1958 Alifabolaget Pelé #635 RC

Cards in a lozenge box

Alifabolaget was the sales and marketing division of the Lindahl factories, founded in Stockholm by Anders Lindahl in 1902. The company sold throat lozenges under the Alfa-pastill name and caramel candy, and from 1949 to 1961 it put 1,702 different sports cards into those packages, soccer and hockey among them.

In 1958 Sweden hosted the World Cup, and Alifabolaget issued a set of international players to mark it, numbered #615 to #650. A collector's history of the set describes 35 cards, 31 players and four team cards from the four semifinalists: Sweden, West Germany, Brazil and France. PSA and another collector source describe 36 cards. The difference has not been settled in the sources reviewed here.

Pelé's card is #635. The back carries a short Swedish biography that notes he was the tournament's youngest player at 17 and mentions his tearful reaction to Brazil's win over Sweden.

The 17-year-old

Edson Arantes do Nascimento was born on October 23, 1940, in Três Corações, Brazil. He joined Santos at 15 and scored in his senior debut on September 7, 1956. Less than two years later he was in Sweden with the national team.

The 1958 World Cup ran from June 8 to 29 with 16 teams. Pelé, the youngest player in the tournament, scored once against Wales in the quarterfinal, three times against France in the semifinal and twice in the final, six goals in four matches. On June 29 in Solna, before about 50,000 spectators, Brazil fell behind four minutes in, then beat Sweden 5-2 for its first world title. Pelé became the youngest player to appear in, score in and win a World Cup final.

He won the World Cup again in 1962 and 1970, the only player with three titles. In 1961 Brazil's government declared him an official national treasure to keep him from moving to a European club. He scored 77 goals in 92 games for Brazil and 643 for Santos, finished his career with the New York Cosmos from 1975 to 1977, and holds a recognized record of 1,279 goals in 1,363 games. He died in São Paulo on December 29, 2022.

The blue shirt

The card shows Pelé in a blue Brazil shirt. Both finalists normally wore yellow, so Brazil bought blue shirts in a hurry and sewed on the patches days before the final. The card's photo appears to come from around that match, which makes the image as tied to the 1958 final as any card can be.

PSA's report on October 3, 2026, listed 37 copies at PSA 1, 34 at PSA 2, and only 13 at PSA 6, the grade of this entry. Six PSA 9s sit at the top, and PSA has never graded one higher.

One well-documented PSA 6, described when it was sold in 2021, showed sharp centering, bright color and wrinkle-free stock, with light toning and a touch on the upper right corner holding it below a 7.

Into seven figures

On October 31, 2020, a PSA 9 sold at auction for $288,000 (news reports dated the sale to November). At the time, a PSA 7 had sold for $43,000 and a PSA 8 for $100,000. Within a year everything changed. A PSA 8 sold at online auction for $340,100 on March 28, 2021, and a PSA 8.5 brought $372,000 at auction on May 10, 2021. In November 2021 a different PSA 9 sold at auction for $900,000.

The PSA 6 market followed. One copy sold at auction for $148,830 on October 27, 2021. Another PSA 6, offered with no reserve, drew 28 bids and sold for $180,000 with buyer's premium on December 19, 2021. The first copy came back the next summer and sold at auction again on June 25, 2022, for $195,600.

In February 2022 the PSA 9 that had sold for $288,000 in 2020 was sold by its fractional owners, 464 investors who needed a 51% vote to approve the deal, for $1.33 million. It was the first soccer card to pass $1 million. An earlier offer above $800,000 had been rejected.

Soccer's grail

PSA calls the Pelé card one of the most monumental in the soccer genre, and it remains the reference point for the category: Pelé's first card, issued in the country and the year of the tournament that made him famous.

It is scarce in every grade. A 2024 count found 167 copies graded across the major companies, and even the lowest grades bring serious money: PSA's records show a PSA 1 selling at online auction for $8,600 on March 25, 2025, and a PSA 2 for $11,600 on October 14, 2025.

The numbers

1958 World Cup

4 matches, 6 goals: 1 vs. Wales (quarterfinal), 3 vs. France (semifinal), 2 vs. Sweden (final). Age 17; youngest player in the tournament. Brazil won 5-2 in the final.

World Cups

Winner 1958, 1962, 1970, the only player with three titles

Brazil career

77 goals in 92 games

Santos

643 goals; debut September 7, 1956, at 15

Career

1,279 goals in 1,363 games, a Guinness World Record

Timeline

1. 1902

   Anders Lindahl founds the Lindahl factories in Stockholm, parent of Alifabolaget.

2. Oct 23, 1940

   Pelé is born in Três Corações, Brazil.

3. 1949

   Alifabolaget issues its first sports cards.

4. Sep 7, 1956

   Pelé scores in his senior debut for Santos at 15.

5. Jun 29, 1958

   Pelé scores twice as Brazil beats Sweden 5-2 in the World Cup final in Solna.

6. 1958

   Alifabolaget issues its World Cup players set, with Pelé at #635.

7. 1961

   Brazil's government declares Pelé an official national treasure.

8. 1970

   Pelé wins his third World Cup.

9. Oct 31, 2020

   A PSA 9 sells at auction for $288,000.

10. Oct 27, 2021

    A PSA 6 sells at auction for $148,830.

11. Nov 2021

    A different PSA 9 sells at auction for $900,000.

12. Dec 19, 2021

    Another PSA 6 sells at auction for $180,000.

13. Feb 2022

    The 2020 PSA 9 sells for $1.33 million, the first soccer card over $1 million.

14. Jun 25, 2022

    The PSA 6 first sold in October 2021 sells at auction again for $195,600.

15. Dec 29, 2022

    Pelé dies in São Paulo at 82.

The world in 1958

• Feb 6, 1958

  The Munich air disaster kills 21, including seven Manchester United players.

• Mar 17, 1958

  The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.

• Apr 17, 1958

  Expo 58 opens in Brussels, with the Atomium at its center.

• Jul 29, 1958

  Congress establishes NASA.

• Aug 3, 1958

  USS Nautilus crosses beneath the North Pole.

• Oct 28, 1958

  John XXIII is elected pope.

• Dec 21, 1958

  Charles de Gaulle is elected president of France.

Price record

A realized private sale is a completed transaction outside an auction room. The amount is what changed hands on the date shown. Private sales are reported less consistently than auction results, so a single comparable carries less weight than a run of them.

By reference price, 1958 Alifabolaget Pelé #635 RC is number 7 of 100 in the trading cards entries of the FLOAT 100. 97 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (94 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Pelé's rookie card came packed with Swedish throat lozenges and caramels.
• Brazil wore blue in the 1958 final only because Sweden also played in yellow; the blue shirts were bought days before.
• The card's Swedish back text mentions that Pelé cried after Brazil beat the host nation.
• The $1.33 million PSA 9 was owned by 464 fractional investors, and selling it took a majority vote.
• The same PSA 6 sold at auction twice in eight months, rising from $148,830 to $195,600.
• Brazil declared Pelé an official national treasure in 1961 to keep him at home.